Cancelling your trip to Maui hurts more than it helps

If you've seen the hundreds of videos and images of the devastating fires that reduced Lahaina town to rubble, you were probably moved to do something to help. You may have taken to social media or mainstream media to find out if visiting now is going to hurt or help. If so, you've no doubt been told that in order to recover from this tragedy you should stay away. You may have even heard this from Maui residents and some kanaka maoli. But that is a small minority of people privileged to not rely on your dollars to provide for their families, pay their mortgages, and not be priced out of paradise. Because, in fact, Maui's economy, according to Maui County's statistics, is roughly 40% visitor-generated. And the last time visitors stopped coming en masse devastated Maui, leaving more than 35% of the working population unemployed¹.

Yes, locals and residents alike are hurting due to the fires. But due to visitors being told to not come and then following that advice, Mauians are facing another pain on top of it all: unemployment, loss of income, businesses, the stress of not being able to provide for their families or to give any more to the victims of the fires. So while West Maui (Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili, etc) is closed, the rest of Maui must remain open.

As a born and raised Mauian myself who relies on tourism for some of my income, I have had my own losses, including several cancellations of my vacation rental as far out as Christmas. (Ironically, it's probably going to be a very rough Christmas for many Maui locals this year due to loss of visitors.) But I don't rely on visitors completely for my income, unlike others who'll even be worse off. Here are some of their stories:

Tali Silifaiva: I grew up with Tali, who was best friends with my older brother all through high school and beyond. Tali is married with children and has strong cultural roots on island. He asks specifically for visitors to continue to visit the island and help locals like him continue to "keep the lights on."

Locals Hurt by Visitor Cancellations

Alika Nako'oka, a popular Hawaiian wedding singer, has suffered losses due to cancellations. Here is a text message he sent to someone who had plans to get married on maui and patronize Alika's services.

Daniel Kalahiki, owner/operator of a popular food truck in Maui, took to Instagram a few days ago to lament the "irresponsible" advice given by those calling for visitors to cancel their trips to Maui due to the recent Lahaina wildfire tragedy. Watch his video below to see why this advice is hurting many, many Hawaiians and Maui residents.

Yes, these are just a few anecdotes from my personal circle. But it is representative of a larger problem, and local media knows it.

What about healing those who lost everything?

People are mourning. It's true. The official count of lives lost are grossly underestimated according to all of my local family and friends. The real number will be in the hundreds if not the thousands. There will be many children among those numbers as school was cancelled due to Hurrican Dora, but work wasn't, so parents weren't home to evacuate children to safety. There are many aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, friends, and more who suffered and died. There are pets and animals. Homes, cars, and irreplaceable family heirlooms—never to be recovered. It can hurt deeply for these people to see others still have all those things. Still smiling. I know, because I've lost a daughter to uncureable illness.

But what I've learned is, like it or not, life must go on. And it's made easier if we support each other rather than divide along whatever lines we might draw in the sand. We can mourn with those who mourn, while not also spreading pain and misery to those who haven't lost so much. You can visit respectfully and volunteer, serve, donate, and help out where appropriate. And your visit can not only be appropriate, it's even necessary. I believe that's what people overlook about this ordeal—that the individual will be forgotten in the name of community. A food truck owner will have to close up shop. A hospitality worker will be laid off due to lack of demand. A wedding singer won't have any weddings to sing for.

Maui needs resources, but not just on the whole. Maui individuals who own and operate businesses need visitors to help keep the lights on. Maui needs you.

Aloha,

Jason Akinaka

1. Covid travel shut down leaves Maui with greater than 37% unemployment. Hawaii News Now.